Udaipur City railway station has been shortlisted as one of the 20 railway stations in the country that will go in for a major redevelopment. Indian Railways is readying proposal for auctioning redevelopment of  20 major stations next month with the objective of attracting private investment and creating world class railway stations.

The redevelopment across stations is estimated to cost Rs 15,000 crore in the first phase. Once redeveloped, the stations are expected to earn sustainable revenue and not put any pressure on the already strained Railway finances.

Stations will be awarded to private developers under the Swiss Challenge Method. As per this method, the proposals are invited online and allows rival bidders to beat that proposal. This method helps in cutting short a long tendering process that happens offline.

Revamping of infrastructure would include platforms and lounges along with hotels, malls and other commercial activity centres in land identified by Railway authority. The private players will be allowed to commercially gain out of the earmarked land for 40 years.

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was roped in by Railways as a consultant for this exercise. The 2o stations have been identified such that they provide maximum Return on Investment to the investor.  Stations that have been identified include: Lokmanya Tilak (T), Pune, Thane, Visakhapatnam, Howrah, Allahabad, Kamakhya, Faridabad, Jammu Tawi, Udaipur City, Secunderabad, Vijaywada, Ranchi, Kozhikode, Yesvantpur, Bangalore Cantt, Bhopal, Mumbai Central (Main), Borivali and Indore.